Lord Moander
'' "Give me a corpse and I'll make you a masterpiece. Give me a graveyard? And I'll create legions."'' - Lord Moander to the Death Knight Thassarian. Lord Moander is an independent and thoroughly evil Death Knight. Loyal only to himself after the fall of the Scourge and the death of the Lich King, he has moved from place to place conducting experiments and working without end on the creation of new undead soldiers for his growing army. Wanted on an almost global scale by the Alliance, Horde, Argent Crusade and Knights of the Ebon Blade. Lord Moander remains constantly on the move, never staying in one place for too long. This combined with his rumoured ability to act as a chameleon in regards to false identities, has allowed him to evade execution for many years with leads to his whereabouts only uncovering more of his experiments and soldiers, but not the master himself. Appearance As Lord Moander A deceased human appearing to be in his mid to late thirties, Lord Moander has a powerful build, with thick muscles giving the impression of great strength even without factoring in the powers bestowed upon him by his creator. His tanned skin appears healthy at first glance, but on closer inspection is betrayed by a deathly pallor which identifies him as one of the damned. Often garbed in thick plate and carrying a great sword infused with the powers of the Scourge, other features of his body, like his full head of silver-grey hair, are hardly seen by anyone, making reports about sightings very difficult to follow. What few reports there are, show an imposing figure at a distance, often flanked by several strange variations of undead which follow his instruction without hesitation. As Sir Jaywood While taking on the guise of Sir Jaywood, Moander uses an almost appalling amount of cosmetics to disguise his true identity. His tanned skin is altered so that it appears far paler than what it was without even factoring the deathly pallor that appears on his skin due to his condition. Furthermore, he always designs two false tattoos around his eyes, which glow green compared to the usual blue of the Death Knights of Acherus and on top of that, he always dyes his hair from it's natural silver-grey into a pitch black. Due to the amount of work that this transformation requires, he is rarely in the guise of Sir Jaywood, but when he is it is almost exclusively donned for the purpose of information gathering. Personality Lord Moander is a dark, evil creature, willing to do anything necessary to further his goals be it toward experimentation or slaughter. Torture, desecration, maiming, wholesale slaughter, these are all things that Lord Moander is not only good at but something that he takes pride in as shown by the careful, almost artisan approach that has adopted and is only discovered after he has long departed the scene of his crimes. He has no loyalties except to himself, and will gladly kill Cult of the Damned members and Scourge if they get in his way. Faith Lord Moander has no faith. In life he believed like many humans in the Holy Light, at least for a time, but in death he has no time faith be it the Holy Light or otherwise. Even the Forgotten Shadow, a religion worshipped readily by the Forsaken is ignored by him during his pursuit for power and more test subjects. Lands and Titles Lord Moander has no lands and titles, at least none on official record. With much of Lordaeron still under the control of the damned, it seems possible that he may have lands, a place to store the army that he is rumoured to be creating, but there has been no solid evidence shown to support any of those theories. History Early Years Lord Moander was not born a Death Knight. Like all Death Knights, he was a living human before his conversion into undeath, and like most Death Knights he also took an alias upon his resurrection. Born as Karnwield Raymond Veras to a pair of very faithful, righteous and wealthy parents, Lord Moander had one of the best childhoods possible for children living within the city of Stratholme. When he was in his early teenage years, his devout faith in the light, combined with pressure from his parents, saw him selected for a position within the powerful religious order The Silver Hand. As a disciple of that order, he learned what it meant to be a Paladin and was instructed in the ways of light magic and weapon use. He was a valued disciple, and after his training was complete, he was given his knighthood by the senior Paladins and dubbed Eckhart the Pure which was a name he would carry for several years. The Plague and the Downfall Unfortunately, the peacetime that he had been born and lived in was not to last. During his final years as a Paladin, Lord Moander was exposed to a new virulent disease. Immune to the effects himself because of his training as a Paladin, he and many other Paladins decided to help the populace in the best way that they could. Sadly all attempts to cure the disease failed, and it wasn't long before the populace grew angry at the Silver Hand. Cries of anger which at first were focused on the lack of healing, soon turned into blatant accusations as the Paladins were blamed for bringing the plague to the people and helping to spread the sickness. This disturbed Moander and several other Paladins greatly and they in turn banded together to see if the combined power of the light could do what a single Paladin could not. The end result sadly was no better. The villagers grew angrier and angrier, forming mobs which started to burn down homes and kill other villagers. When Moander and the group of Paladins he rode with attempted to quell the anger, they were met not with peace and compassion, but with violence and rage. The mob took up stones and cast them at the Paladins, shouting curses at them and condemning them as traitors. That was the final straw that destroyed what patience Moander and the other Paladins had left. They had laid down their lives for years to protect these insolent townsfolk, they had devoted day after day to discover the cure for this new sickness, often to the point where they received only a few hours of sleep each night and this is how they repaid them? There was no going back from that point. They had all had enough. They rode into the mob with their swords and hammers raised. Their thick armour protecting them from the rocks and sticks that the mob used, and with bloody efficiency they carved their way through them, leaving a bloody mess of bodies behind them. By the time they were done, the entire mob was dead. Men, women and children, none were spared from the slaughter and as Moander and the Paladins stood in the wreckage of the Village, they realized that they had damned themselves. By slaughtering the mob in anger, they had become traitors of Lordaeron and the Alliance. They would face the hangman's noose if they attempted to return and any attempt to justify their actions would lead only to swift condemnation. It was then that they heard the call, a voice inside each of their heads promising an escape from their curses and power, unbelievable power if they followed the instructions. Faced with death or following the voices in their heads. The Paladins, Moander included, discarded the trappings of the Silver Hand before they rode to the nearest Dockyard. When they arrived, they found it guarded by several Footmen of Lordaeron and another Paladin. Moander's apprentice, Karloff. They didn't give them a chance to negotiate or surrender, instead they rode them down and slaughtered them, with Moander himself putting his apprentice to the sword. With the dockyard clear, they stole a small boat and set sail, following the voices in their heads from the Eastern Kingdoms to the icy wastes of Northrend. Rise A Death Knight Northrend was an alien place to all of the Paladins including Moander but despite the new terrain and the strange creatures that inhabited the regions that they passed through, they continued to follow the voices in their head, guided by the promises offered. When they reached the treacherous valley that was Icecrown, they were shocked to see an army of undead soldiers, of varying shapes and sizes. Even more surprising, is that the armies of the damned did not attack them, but instead stepped aside, allowing the Paladins to ride through as if they were expected. When they all reached the Frozen Throne and found the source of the voices they were awe struck and without question all the Paladins, Moander included, took a knee before the Frozen Throne and gave themselves willingly to the Master of the Scourge. In that moment they were remade, their souls taken by the Master of the Damned. Their control over the light faded into oblivion only to be replaced by a new power, the power of death. When they rose, they rose not as Paladins of the Light, but as Death Knights of the Scourge. Each took a new name for themselves, discarding their real names and the names given to them upon their knighthood. Karnwield Raymond Veras or Eckhart the Pure as he was known to the Paladins, became Lord Moander, the Rider of Damnation. With their place among the Scourge all but assured, the former Paladins, now Death Knights were formed into the Ebon Guard and were outfitted with new armour and weapons befitting their station. Then they were given their mission, to go forth from Icecrown and return to Lordaeron to bring the wrath of the Scourge upon the human kingdom. The Flaying of the Hand When Lord Moander and the Ebon Guard returned to Lordaeron after several months at sea, they found the Kingdom in the throes of war. The Scourge, lead by Prince Arthas Menethil, were ravaging the land and the Ebon Guard revelled in the chaos and destruction that was all around them. They joined in the destruction, killing hundreds of innocent civilians between them, but their true goal was not civilians or even military, but instead their former brothers and sisters of the Silver Hand. They travelled from place to place, hunting down the Knights of the Silver Hand one by one. They slaughtered any who got in their way, and by the war's end, with the human kingdom of Lordaeron crushed, they had slaughtered a significant number of the Silver Hand. While they had missed out on killing any of the original founders of the Order, they revelled in their victory regardless with Lord Moander taking on the title of 'Flayer of the Hand' as a sign of his victory. Death of the Ebon Guard The Ebon Guard proved to be one of the most resilient and dangerous forces that roamed the wastes of Lordaeron following the defeat of the human nation. Together they were unstoppable, their combined powers and martial skills able to overwhelm forces five, even ten times their number. Alone however, they were vulnerable and it was their own hubris that finally saw to the dismantling of the Ebon Guard. Convinced that no force could destroy them, even on their own, the Ebon Guard split up and took lands in the fallen Kingdom. They did not forsee the rise of the Scarlet Crusade however, nor did they anticipate the survival of several noble houses which had managed to endure with their armies. Between these surviving nobles and the Scarlet Crusade, the Ebon Guard was hunted down much like they had in turn hunted the Silver Hand. They were isolated and destroyed one by one until Lord Moander alone survived. Knowing that his time was up, he fled from the ruined kingdom of Lordaeron. He was never found by either the Scarlet Crusade or the noble houses. The Last of the Ebon Guard had evaded capture. Experimentation Lord Moander remained on the run for many years. Moving from place to place, never remaining in one place for too long. During his travels he was always doing something evil however. Civilians would go missing, caravans would be slaughtered. Signs of his presence were discovered and remained even long after he had left the area causing no end of grief to the nobles and leaders of nations who owned those lands. Khaz Modan, Arathi, Stormwind, even the distant lands of Kalimdor had felt his wrath. It was during one particular slaughter in the lands of Arathi no less, that Moander considered experimentation, the creation of new undead. The undead forces of the scourge were adequate of course, but he could sense that that improvements could be made. Ideas moved through his head at a fast pace, and he began formulating plans to bring his creations out of his mind and to reality. By this time, having had no support from the Scourge or communications with the Lich King, Moander was as independent as one could be considered while still shackled to the Frozen Throne. Eventually Moander did gain full independence, for when the Lich King was defeated, all bonds that held the intelligent damned in check were shattered. Despite his new found freedom however, he never gave up on his experimentation, something that continues to this very day. Known Experiments Skeletal Spearman The Skeletal Spearman is recorded as being one of the first soldiers in Moander's experimental army, but is noted as not actually being experimented on, only given a new set of weapons. These skeletons use their enhanced strength, given to them by their damned status to carry two large sacks of spears on their backs. Each sack is usually filled with no less than ten spears, which the skeletons throw with amazing accuracy until they are down to their last two. It is then, and only then that they charge into the melee, using both spears to keep their opponent on guard at all times. Ravening Ghoul The Ravening Ghoul was one of Moander's first recorded experiments. Early studies of the creatures that were slain by loyal forces show that Moander had taken the original, standard ghoul which made up the bulk of the Scourge forces and improved it substantially by restructuring the body to make it faster and more agile. Future studies would show more improvements made to the creature, including a form of armour created from the remains of iron gibbets for protection and iron claws bolted into the hands to give them permanent and almost un-attachable weapons. Spectre The Spectre appears to look like the Banshees which were created by Arthas Menethil during his invasion of Quel'thalas. Spectre's however, show no elvish traits, but do appear to be female in appearance. Studies thus far have been done from a distance, or recovered through testimonies from those who have survived battle with the creatures as no corpses have been recovered due to their inability to sustain a corporeal form upon their deaths. What has been gathered is that they are far more aggressive than the Banshee and often fly through their opponent to attack from the rear or side, giving them significant advantage in battle. Corpse Knight One of the more recent experiments. The Corpse Knight, like the Spectre has only been studied from afar. They appear to be fully armoured warriors which stand roughly six feet tall and wield vampiric rune blades. Often mistaken for Death Knights due to their similar fighting style, they are skilled warriors, often using the skills they retained in life to fight against any who stand in their way. No corpses of these creatures have ever been recovered. When slain the creatures disintegrate, leaving only their weapons behind. Studies of the 'remains' show that the unstable necromantic energies that animate these creatures cause the creature to break down within moments of their death. Putrifier The Putrifier is one of the most exotic experiments ever devised by Moander and show indication that he has travelled to the far reaches of the world in search of new corpses for his creations. The Putrifiers are the reanimated remains of humanoid Tol'vir. They are almost always in a state of great decay, with much of their flesh having rotted to the point where the bones are clearly visible. They are plague and disease carriers, with their very presence able to cause even those with the strongest stomachs to wretch and heave. Able to strike with diseased claws and teeth, they are formidable creatures on the battlefield with those alone, but it is their breath that is the most potent of all their weapons, their decayed lungs able to exhale countless diseases and pestilences on their opponents. Necro-Magi The Necro-Magi are a fairly standard creation compared to other creatures created by the Fleshcrafter, yet they are more powerful than most due to their power over the forces of death. Created from the bodies of former necromancers, they are almost indistinguishable from how they lived in life, save for their enhanced ability to control the powers of death, and unleash bolts of pure destructive energy upon their opponents. It is rumoured, although not confirmed, that these creatures are able to enhance themselves much like they did in life, able to take on the form of powerful Liches. Although so far, there have been no recorded sightings of any Liches made from the Necro-Magi's remains. Death Spider The pets of Lord Moander, these spiders are his special project and are usually found guarding the Fleshcrafter's laboratories. Mutated with necromancy and dark spellwork, these spiders are altered in such a way that they are extremely large, ranging in height with the smallest spider being four feet tall, and the largest almost the size of a human. Extremely quick despite their size, they are trained to ambush their prey by attacking from high ridges or walls before sinking their fangs into their target. Each fang is as long as a short sword, able to pierce through flesh and armor with ease. While a target bitten by a Death Spider can usually survive the trauma that comes from being bitten, they rarely survive the venom of the creature without immediate treatment. Enhanced with necromantic energies much like the spider itself, the venom is as corrosive as acid and eats away at the flesh of the victim from the inside out. If the venom is injected into an organ, death is almost guaranteed unless immediate treatment, seconds after the bite is applied. The Ebon Guard Once a unit of Death Knights that Lord Moander served with until they were destroyed by the Scarlet Crusade and the Argent Dawn, the Ebon Guard has been reformed to become the personal vanguard of the Fleshcrafter himself. Created from the bodies of elite champions regardless of faction, they are similar to Death Knights in many ways, but have no free will of their own, their minds controlled entirely by Lord Moander. Riding into battle on skeletal steeds, the members of the Ebon Guard are garbed from head to toe in black robes, giving them an imposing presence. Each member of the Guard also carries a scythe which they wield with extreme efficiency in battle. While they are used to fighting from horseback, they are equally skilled on the ground when dismounted however accurate reports on the true combat abilities of these creatures are scarce, as there are few who have survived battling one of the Ebon Guard. Where the Ebon Guard ride, only flayed and ruined corpses remain behind them. Category:Death Knights Category:Undead Scourge Category:Cult of the Damned Category:Independent Category:Lordaeronian